About a year ago, I was part of a “Freezer Meal Group Swap” in my neighborhood and once a month we would all get together and swap freezer meals.

I would usually spend a couple of hours in the kitchen one Saturday a month, cooking up a storm and in the end, it was so nice to have 5-6 meals prepared that I didn’t have to worry about for that next month.

Unfortunately, our Freezer Meal Group no longer gets together and I just have not been motivated enough to make my own meals.

But as my due date has gotten closer, I have been thinking about how nice it would be to just pull something out of the freezer and have all the work done for dinner.

I started looking on Pinterest and discovered “Dump Chicken” recipes . . . you basically “dump” 4-5 ingredients into a slow cooker and in less than 5 minutes, your dinner prep is done!

However, some of the recipes that we tried were terrible.

I started thinking about how we have a lot of simple slow cooker recipes on our website that actually taste good . . . tried-and-true family recipes.

Then I started thinking about how I could prep all these meals now and throw them in the freezer and then when I needed a quick meal, I could just “dump” the contents of the bag into my slow cooker and let it cook all day.

Directions:
Brown meat and onion, drain. Let meat cool for a minute, then dump into a resealable gallon-sized freezer bag.

Dump the remaining ingredients into the bag, mix together, and zip bag closed.
When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook on HIGH for 1-2 hours or LOW for 2-3 1/2 hours.

When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook on LOW for 8-11 hours (or HIGH for 5-7 hours). Remove roast from slow cooker and save extra juice for dipping! With 2 forks, shred roast and serve meat on buns. We also love to melt Provolone or Swiss cheese on top.

When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook on LOW for 8 hours (or HIGH for 4 hours). Sprinkle with fresh or dried rosemary for serving.
Serve with Oven Roasted Vegetables.

The first thing that I did was label all my bags with what was going inside and how long to cook them in the slow cooker.

I then placed all the meat inside each bag (I don’t really like handling raw meat, so I figured that I would just get it over with).

I then printed off the recipes and just added the ingredients called for to each bag.

You might find it easier to chop and prepare all your produce and other items, but I like doing it one recipe at a time. Just do what works best for you!

And less than 1 hour later, I had 8 freezer meals all ready to go!

Other tips and suggestions:
-Don’t forget to add Ziploc gallon-sized freezer bags to your shopping list!
-All of these recipes can lay pretty flat, making them easy to stack in your freezer (they really won’t take up much room).
-They seem to work best in the slow cooker if you can let them thaw in the fridge for about 24 hours before serving them. If you are not able to thaw them beforehand, plan on them cooking for a lot longer in the slow cooker.
-Each of my recipes feeds my family of four (2 adults and 2 kids) for dinner and then we usually have two leftover lunches for the next day. If you are only making food for 2, you could easily split these meals in half.
-Slow Cooker Liners will make clean up a breeze!

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask! We will be able to respond quicker if you send us an email: SixSistersStuff@gmail.com.

This might sound really stupid, but I never thought to do ribs in my crockpot like that. Also never thought to try maple and dijon together. But the black bean soup sounds like what I make and call chili.

I have something to add to the Roast Beef sandwiches. In Illinois, we serve Italian Beef which is really roast beef sandwiches like this with Italian seasonings. To switch up this meal, you could add 1/2t of garlic powder and 2T of Italian Seasoning or 2 teaspoons each of basil, oregano, and thyme. What really sets this off though is the addition of some pepperoncinis (the small, light green peppers sometimes served with/on pizzas) and 1/2 c of the liquid. All this could be added before freezing.

we do a whole jar of the pepperoncinis in the crock pot with the meat… all of the liquid and all of the peppers. Then when you assemble the sandwich, you can decide if you want the peppers on it or not. I choose not to.

Yum! We’ve been looking for some recipes to try in this way. And these actually look good – so many were really just basic sauces to poor over something else. I do have a question – I noticed in the pictures that the meat wasn’t cut up before you put it in the freezer bags. Is there a reason for that? Would it be bad to cut up the meat first? Thanks for the help!

Angie, it’s down at the very bottom of the post- pretty much the last line! Ha ha! Anyway, these recipes feed my family of 4 (2 adults and 2 kids) for dinner, and then we always have at least 2 servings leftover (that we usually eat for lunch the next day). So each recipe will easily serve six. The French Dip recipe actually serves 6-8.

So, would you say each recipe would feed my family of 4 – me + construction hubby & 2 teenaged sons (3 bottomless pits)? I’m just trying to figure out if I should scale up a little bit…and use a bigger ziploc!

My girlfriend and I put all of these together, plus the Beef Stroganoff. My entire family LOVES your recipes and by default, ME! Now another 2 girlfriends are joining us next week to do it again with more I hope will prep just as easily. We’ll only take recipes from your site, though, we’ve had too many lumpy messes from random sites. But I have to tell you a story….My kids went NUTS for the taco soup, both requested it in their school lunch the next day (they never do this!) My 4-year old’s teachers got such a kick out of him stirring in his sour cream, sprinkling on his cheese, then putting a bite on a tortilla wedge!!! They all gathered around my husband to tell him the story at pick-up time!

I’m not exactly sure, but the reason why i commented on this is because I was going to mention that a crockpot is a great investment…and the cheap ones are only like…$20. No need for an expensive one. Hope that helps.

I’ve been looking for freezer/crock pot recipes, THANKS! Especially looking forward to the beef stew, which is a family favorite. One thought; if the frozen peas make the bag almost overflow, why not just put them with the baggie of other ingredients? Staple or tape them together? Just wondered…

This is the best freezer meal post I have seen, I am all about easy! I have some picky eaters in my house, but I think all of these will be definite keepers. Can’t wait to try them out. Thanks for posting! Love the blog too!

These recipes serve my family of 4 (2 adults and a 5 year old and 3 year old) for dinner, plus give us at least 2 meals for the next day (my husband and I usually eat them for lunch). However, with two teen boys . . . you might want to double it! I have heard how teen boys can eat!! Growing up with all girls though . . . I don’t know much personal experience.

Thanks so much! I’ve tried making my own freezer meal plan before and it takes a lot of time/planning. This is WONDERFUL with the recipes all in one place (love that I didn’t have to print out 8 different recipes) and the shopping list already done. Plus, everything looks really good! THANKS!

I love these ! I have a question or comment, I guess. I, personally, would rather bag everything up together except the canned items..i.e. cream of whatever soups and or the canned veggies and put them in the crock pot just before setting the timer. Creamed items just break down in the freezer and I see no point in freezing canned item, unless it is just to make sure you actually have them for the dish that you want to use them in. Hopefully, though, we each have enough ‘storage’ to not let that be a problem. There ya go. My thoughts. I will definitely use some of these recipes and put together some meals ! Thanks. Denise

My first time here, and what an amazingly helpful post of so many great freezer meals this is–thank you! I want to thank you for sharing your e-books as part of a giveway at A Delightsome Life–appreciate it!

I have been thinking about getting into freezer cooking for a while and these recipes are the perfect way to start, the all sound delicious! I am going to do it this weekend. Thank you for all the hard work you put into it.

Beef Consomme is just a little bit thicker . . . I think that beef broth would work okay, but you might want to add a little bit of cornstarch to thicken it up. I have also used a condensed French Onion soup and they turned out yummy too!

I made all of these recipes plus two or three of my own regular crockpot meals this weekend in anticipation of our little girls’ birth. I hope you decide to compile another selection of recipes like this- it was so handy for my first foray into freezer cooking!

Hope this helps others- I make menus planned out 3-4 weeks in advanced and do my shopping that way with smaller trips inbetween for milk/produce. We are also following a diet, so we have to count our calories as well.

Courtney, that is awesome! Thanks for doing all that work!And good news- we are actually going to be launching another website in about 60 days that has all our recipes along with the nutrition facts and weight watchers points per serving . . . so stayed tuned!

When the potatoes and carrots are frozen & then cooked does the consistency turn out ok? I always thought you had to flash freeze or blanche certain types of produce before freezing to keep them from breaking down. I have seen so many freezer meals where all types of produce are just thrown in a bag and frozen, but there is really a limited list of items that can be done like that. Thanks in advance!

I read online that some people recommended flash freezing, but I was in too big of a hurry and just went ahead and made them . . . and I have had no problems! I actually just ate the hearty beef stew from the freezer last night and after 24 hours of thawing and 10 hours of cooking, they weren’t mushy at all! They were definitely soft, but after cooking for that long, I would expect them to be. Anyway, they worked fine for me, but I would be interested to hear if anyone else had problems. I will keep you posted if I hear anything else!

I recently did this with different recipes I found. Did you find that the recipes when cooked were a bit watered down? I found that with a Savory Chicken recipe and meatball one. How would you correct that? besides thickening the sauce with cornstartch?

So far I haven’t had any problems with these recipes being watery. I wonder if it is from the freezing and thawing process? I guess it just depends on the recipe and the liquids that are added . . . I would definitely cut back on the liquids. I use cornstarch as my default thicken things up, but I have heard that instant potato flakes also do the job! Hope that helps!

Just finished all the prep and put them in the freezer – cannot tell you how good that feels!! Super excited to have this. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! I will be keeping up with your blog looking for another installment of these meals!! LOVE IT!

Just finished all the prep and put them in the freezer – cannot tell you how good that feels!! Super excited to have this. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! I will be keeping up with your blog looking for another installment of these meals!! LOVE IT!

To be honest, I am not sure! In every recipe that I have ever seen that deals with ground beef in the slow cooker, it says to brown it before putting in the crock pot. I guess that I would just be nervous about it not cooking all the way through? I tried to google it, but nothing I found answered my question. I am so sorry that I am not much help!

That black bean taco soup is already one of my favorites! A friend of mine brought it to me when I was recovering from surgery and now it has become a favorite with my family. I can’t wait to try all the other recipes! I often want to cook a meal for someone else but I am already a pretty busy person and have trouble squeezing in that bit of outreach for someone else, but this might be an easy way to do that. Thank you so much for these ideas. Now I can help someone else and still get dinner fixed for my family too!

That black bean taco soup is already one of my favorites! A friend of mine brought it to me when I was recovering from surgery and now it has become a favorite with my family. I can’t wait to try all the other recipes! I often want to cook a meal for someone else but I am already a pretty busy person and have trouble squeezing in that bit of outreach for someone else, but this might be an easy way to do that. Thank you so much for these ideas. Now I can help someone else and still get dinner fixed for my family too!

This is amazing! We don’t eat much meat so this would be perfect for a whole month’s worth of meat meals and then fill in with out usual vegetarian meals. The hardest part about cooking with meat for me is all the extra prep and being able to do it all ahead of time and throw in the crock makes life way easier. Great post!

I didn’t add any water to them and they cooked fine . . . I think that I would just watch as they cook and if it seems like they are burning or drying out you could add a little bit of water, but I have made these recipes many times and have never had to add water.

I made the taco soup last night and the beef stew tonight, both were a big hit in my house! Thank you for making my night easier. I was able to come home eat dinner with the kids, work on homework myself and the kids and have time to go on a walk before it got dark. Again thank you!BTW the beef consomme was in with the soups in my store not over by the broths.

I have seen SOOOOO many different freezer crockpot cooking posts the past few months but this is the FIRST one that I actually think all the recipes look good! I’ve been cautioned about raw potatoes in the freezer – they often turn black, so I’ll probably reserve those until the stew hits the crockpot, but the rest look fantastic! I think I’ll definitely go with this collection of recipes.

I’m working through these recipes the last two weeks and so far they are all good! I have the alfredo chicken one in the crock pot for tonight. I have to say that this has been a lifesaver… just found out I am pregnant and I can’t handle even going to a grocery store without getting super sick! I loved being able to print your grocery shopping list, add a few staples to the bottom, and then hand the sheets to my hubby! He did a great job finding everything (except the beef consumme), and now he is happy to have substancial meals even when I’m too sick to cook. Thank you!!!

Camille, thank you so much for this! I have made these meals twice already and they have all been a hit. Well a couple were not hits, but I knew making them that they would be misses because they contain ‘yucky’ things according to my kids. But seriously I made them once with a friend and then we made them all again last week with a whole group of women. It took a lot longer when there were 6 of us because we kept chatting. But the first time we timed it and it was an hour and 5 minutes plus maybe 10 minutes clean up

I made the maple dijon chicken and it turned out insanely salty which I don’t like very much. It tasted like it had marinated in sea water. I don’t recall adding very much salt to it so it must be the mustard? I was wondering if anyone else had this problem and could recommend a variation or maybe some special sort of mustard.

I made the maple dijon chicken today and it was terrible. I used the proper amount of mustard and maple syrup but all I could taste was the mustard and it wasn’t good. I won’t be making it again. French dip sandwiches on the menu for tomorrow. Hope to have better luck with them.

Hi Joanna! I am so sorry- I hate mushy veggies. I haven’t had problems with mushy veggies in these recipes, but if you were worried about it, you could just wait to add all the veggies until you put the food in the crock pot- that way they would still be fresh and crispy.

I could kick myself for never thinking of stuff like this.. I will definately be adding these to my menus for up coming weeks.. With 4 kids, 2 cats, and a husband to take care of I always find it hard to think of new meals and ones that you can “dump”, cook, and serve… THANKS!!!

My sister and I got together and made these meals about a month ago, and we are currently working our way through them. I have to say I am SO glad we tried this. Having something ready to go is such a gift during a stressful work week. Tonight we had the chicken alfredo, which turned out well, but a little watery. My husband sure didn’t seem to mind though as he had two helpings. I do prefer crunchier veggies, but having something ready like this without hassle far outweighs my veggie issue. We love the cilantro lime tacos and the taco soup; those have been favorites for sure. Thanks for sharing. I know we will do this again.

My husband was just laid off and money is VERY TIGHT! Thank you, I am so grateful for this post. This fits in my budget and allows me to cook healthy meals for my family. I can’t wait to share how they turned out!

I saw this about the same time I got word that my knee replacement surgery was a “go”. Using the 8 meals as a base, I picked up more from your site, added a few of my own recipes, and a few lazy day dinners (chili dogs, hamburgers, etc.) and filled the freezer. My husband and son ate healthy while I was hospitalized; I am eating healthy now that I am home; and it took a lot of stress off my guys to not have to think about “what’s for supper”. No more surgeries, but lots more freezer loading in my future. Thank you!! Becci

My son and I have tried out a few of your freezer meal recipes…we both loved the Chicken Cacciatore and the Hearty Beef Stew. Added those to our regular weekly meals. Love that I only have to make a mess in the kitchen periodically and have a hot meal waiting for me when I return home after a long day at the office. My son doesn’t have to ask “What’s for dinner”? as often, cause he sees and smells what’s cooking while I’m at work…Thanks for sharing!

Thank you so much for posting this I’m 37+4 n was wondering how to feed my family when I’m in hospital trying to deliver.don’t believe in fast food and hubbies cooking sucks though we try to stomach what he makes i need to be she my daughter is actually eating instead of mg did to look likes it plus i am not going to be in the mood to cook once i come home with baby. THANKS SO MUCH!!!!

Oh this is amazing!! My very first google search and it’s exactly what I need! My husband works nights and two days out of the week i’m not home to cook so this would be great for him! I’m expecting a crockpot for Xmas (that I’m not suppose to know about, hehe) and I can’t wait to break it in with these recipes! I was curious though, how boneless chicken thighs would fair in the crockpot rather then breast, such in the dijon recipe…

Thighs actually work awesome in the crock pot. Breasts tend to dry out quickly, but thighs stay moist and tender. Feel free to sub in thighs for any of the recipes. I recommend boneless thighs so that you don’t have to pick bones out, but do whatever you like.

This post is AWESOME! I am not a “cook” but I have a family of 6 and seriously need to get it together and this is a wonderful start! I have a question, probably dumb, but do you start out with the meat frozen when you add everything to the ziploc bag to freeze? I have lots of frozen meat and now that I finally know what to do with it, I don’t want to mess it up! Thanks!

YAY!!! I have been looking for simple slow cooker meals! Other ones I have run across either have crazy ingredients, tons of ingredients, or don’t even sound good. The males in my household are picky, but they would eat each one of these recipes! Thank you!!!!!!!!

A terrific Idea that stopped my family from eating unhealthy at fast foods. We were spending so much money as well! Not only that, but not having dinner together at the table was killing me. My husband is a full time nursing student and I work the nights at the hospital. We are in no mood of preparing a meal on a daily basis. This made our lives much more “normal” for us. It’s so important to make time with the family. Thank you!

So I’m not a domestic type of gal at all! My husband and I are both working nights and I was thinking this would be a great idea to throw in when I get off of work and then we’ll have food for dinner or to take to work! I just finished prepping all of the meals and I’m way excited to have FOOD!! Thanks

I have a low attention span, so I have not made all the recipes yet. But I did get all the ingredients, and have made 4 of the recipes so far, 2 of each, because I believe in having a backup!Haven’t cooked any yet but I look forward to having something when back to school rolls around and I am too tired to care about dinner

I have used some online freezer crockpot meals as well and most of them tasted terrible. Your recipe’s look simple and “normal” I am supposed to be teaching a freezer crockpot meal class for RS and was starting to stress that I haven’t had any luck. So I am super excited to try your recipe’s. If all goes well, do you mind if I use your site as a reference for recipe’s

Thank you so much for posting these! My new years resolution is to try and cook every night, because my husband and my eating habits have been HORRIBLE. I decided tonight to start my own blog to just monitor our eating, and act as a motivator because I know I have to post and review what we ate. I linked you on the blog, because I used some of your frozen recipes. Hopefully that is okay I am new to the blog world.. so I don’t know how that all works. xoxoxo. Keep the awesome ideas coming!

Hi there! Thanks for the comment I am glad you enjoyed the blog postings so far. We are having the Maple Dijon tonight.. and I made the Cilantro Chicken leftovers into a mexican..salsa… tortilla.. soup.. thing.

Love the cilantro lime chicken. I had recently found this recipe for it and made it in my slowcooker last night: http://www.pipandebby.com/pip-ebby/2011/11/18/slow-cooker-cilantro-lime-chicken.html – I will definetly try YOUR recipe next as it looks like a much fuller meal. I have an almost 4 month old and I usually have to put her in her bouncer in the kitchen while I cook but after about 25 minutes she gets fussy so I’m stuck w/ quick meals. Can’t wait to try a few of these so I can just stick them in my slowcooker during her morning nap. Wish I had my slowcooker before I had her, I would’ve made meals for a month !

Silly question, What size crockpot do you use for your recipes? 4qt? I just want to make sure I don’t dump the ingredients into the wrong size cooker. Thank you SO MUCH for all your amazingly hard work and sharing.

Thank you for all your hard work and sharing! I have been doing OAMC for many years, but I started working full time outside the home last year, so I’ve been searching the interwebz for freezer to crockpot recipes — found ‘em! And even better, you give serving suggestions for side dishes! Keep up the great work, sisters!

I’m going to try making these up tomorrow! I’m quickly searching for meals while my 5 month old sleeps and will get a chance to go to the store and be in the kitchen while my MIL watches him for a bit tomorrow. So excited!

Of these, I made the following and have some reviews!Black Bean Taco Soup: Delish, probably my favorite! My boyfriend even loved it, and he doesn’t like beans or corn in his soup. We ate it with tortillas, and it lasted two nights. Chicken Cacciatore: This was great, but there was something missing. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, neither could my boyfriend. It was really good, just a spice missing.Hearty Beef Stew: This was also delish! He said it was probably his favorite stew!Maple Dijon Glazed Chicken: Thiswas a disappointment, to us both. The chicken was very dry. This could be because I used the high heat one, since I forgot to put it in that morning. I made it with baked potatoes, and without the potatoes, I probably wouldn’t have eaten any of it. Marc said he couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be sweet or tangy but the mix between the both was not good. Neither of us finished our chicken. We both agreed, at least I didn’t spend hours, after a long day at work, making this meal and then hating it I also still have frozen the Cilantro Lime Chicken, I haven’t made it yet. I’m writing this review prior to making it because I have a feeling I won’t care for it. Marc likes Cilantro, not myself.

Thank you SO much for posting this! I’m trying to figure out what I have to do to get ready for baby’s arrival, and this is PERFECT! The meals look delicious, and it is uncomplicated! Thanks again and again!

Hey 6 Sisters — Have you tried your Crockpot pineapple/teryaki recipe with this freeze-ahead approach? I saw it on here and was curious – it looked like it might be a good one-bag option and I thought I’d check! I, like others, am looking forward to the new batch you share with us soon!

Can I just say Thank you!! I have a sick 4 month old, I’m in grad school, and my husband is doing his undergrad. I feel like there is never time to cook! This post makes my life so much easier. Thank you.

From someone who is the ultimate rookie at cooking, here is my revised timeline - an hour for trying to find everything at the (very busy) grocery store – never did find the beef consomme or liquid smoke.- two hours to prep and put everything together.- another hour to clean up completely.

Still, four hours total to have all of these meals ready is worth it. Can’t wait to try them out!

What a great idea for those Church & family gatherings when asked to bring a hot & cold dish. The HOT DISH? Done ahead, thawed, poppped into the crockpot & ready to head out to our destination. One ?: are there any easy nutritous desserts that can be made in a crockpot?

We have some crock pot desserts if you click on our recipe index on our main page. Then click on slow cooker. There are some tucked in our spread of slow cooker recipes. As far as nutritious….sure!? I guess if the serving is small! Check them out and have a great day! -The Six Sisters

Okay… I’ve tried everything but the Chicken Alfredo (husband is not too fond of alfredos), and they are fantastic! Thank you so much. New baby coming in June, so I’m starting to collect these types of recipes. Anyone else have some good ones?

My husband and I have tried a few of these and all I can say is OMG! They’re so delicious. I have tried freezer meals in the past, and crockpot meals, and always came home so excited only to be let down by food that wasn’t exactly what I was expecting (read: not delicious). But these meals! WOW! The beef stew is amazing, the black bean taco soup is UNREAL and so husband-approved it’s scary (he specifically requested I make at least 6 more of those ones) and the cacciatore is fantastic. I can’t wait to try the others! Awesome awesome job!! Thank you. I’ve printed these out and put them in my cook book. For just the two of us, these meals as written can make sometimes 3 separate meals that make us dinner for the night and two lunches for the next day!

You should NEVER put frozen raw meat in a slow cooker / crockpot. Because of the slow cooking time, that leaves a huge window of low temps open for bacteria and other nastiness to grow. Always completely thaw raw meat before you put it in a slow cooker.

Other than that, all these recipes look really good. A few are definately making it into my freezer!

Wow I just discovered this site today! Haven’t had a chance to check everything out yet but I love these 8 slow-cooker meals you can make in one hour! I am single and love to have a meal ready when I come home from a 11 hour day, I do that on a regular basis. I am sure I will love the rest of your site as well, I made the Reeses Brownies yesterday and they are fantastic. I will write again and perhaps contribute, if that is allowed. Peace ;)IndyDave

What a gem you are! Thanks! Our third baby is due in May and we have a busy schedule already with church and school activities! I am making a couple of batches and some frozen pot pies for the freezer ahead of time. Anything to make a third baby coming home easier! This could be a nice gift for someone else in similar situations too. I think most people own a crock pot…. betterment, new baby, busy family…. Very Nice!! Thanks I shared this on my facebook fan page too. http://www.facebook.com/kingdomcovenantministries – any other ideas like this or things for gardening, DIY, blog posts are very welcome to be shared there.

I made the cilantro lime chicken that you serve on tortillas. Well mine turned out watery. How do you fix that? Most of my freezer meals turn out real watery. Was just wondering what I was doing wrong.

Was so excited about this Cilantro Lime Chicken. Prepped and froze it last Thursday and thawed it in the fridge yesterday and had it cooking for 8 hours on low today (Tues.) while I was at work. I came home, opened it and was surprised and how watery it was. Also, it wasn’t really that flavorful. Dissapointed Any suggestions?

The Maple Dijon Chicken, however, was awesome. My boyfriend and I loved it. Made that one right away instead of freezing. Will definitely repeat.

My chicken/broccoli fettucini did not turn out at all. I (maybe incorrectly) thought that you shouldn’t freeze certain creamy things, like mayo and I don’t know if the jars of sauce I bought would fall into that corner but they totally broke down in the crock pot. Everything is very liquidy and not at all like something I would put on noodles and call alfredo… I’m pretty bummed but followed instruction to the letter.

I was wondering has anyone had a good turn out with using a frozen chicken breast to start? Or do I need to have a defrosted chicken breast to mix with the Cilantro lime chicken before putting the assembled mix into the freezer? Same question with the Chicken Broccoli Fettucini?

I used frozen breasts (from our Costco run) and they turned out. great. The chicken broccoli fettucini was fine, it didn’t clump or break apart. Use low heat and I kept it on for about 6 hrs I think. It was not our usual tastes but we all liked it.My only tip would be to brown the meat for the stew. Without it, there is a weird smell in the crockpot (very gamey) and the stew looks less appealing. It tasted great, but my husband and son are really picky and don’t like things that “look weird”.

Great set of recipes… saved me a ton of time. Plus my husband is doing low carb, so I could do this for him and just add rice for the kids for most of the meals.

I made up a few of these today to try in the next week or two and for my step daughter as well who is about to have a baby, any day. Looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

Question, the cilantro lime chicken isn’t liquidy at all. Do I need to add some liquid to the crockpot? I will be making these while I am away at work and won’t be able to check on it regularly. Thanks.

Thank you for sharing these meals. I bought all the ingredients today (the shopping list was a life saver). I’m making them up to give to my pastor’s wife who is taking chemo for breast cancer. I thought these would be super-simple for him to prepare when she is not feeling up to cooking.

Did anyone have any issues with the potatoes in the Beef stew? This took 3-4 days to thaw out but when I went to throw it in the crockpot this morning, the potatoes were black! I took them all out and I’m hoping the rest of it is fine to cook. I know sometimes potatoes will turn a little brown after sitting out, but I’ve never seen them turn black.

The recipes look good! I’m going to try them as soon as I find enough space in my freezer to store them! Also, thank you for including instructions to thaw in your refrigerator first. Most of these freezer crockpot meals that I’ve come across ignore the fact that it is not safe to put frozen meat in the crockpot. Always bothers me! Thanks again!

Made the Cilantro Lime Chicken w/ Corn and Black Beans for dinner last night, but with a few changes to it. I don’t cook chicken in my crock pot unless I’m home (I’m gone for up to 10 hours during the week, and I can’t stand over cooked chicken!), so I cooked it in bite-sized pieces on the stove top. I totally forgot to add the lime juice (duh), and I added about 1/2 cup or so of salsa, and cooked it over med high heat for about 25 minutes. Totally spaced out tortillas, too, so I served it over rice, and with additional salsa, guac, and shreddded cheddar. Very good!! This recipe is a keeper for sure!!!

Just made all of these this week! We moved into a new house and it made the week stress free when it came to dinner! We loved all except the chicken Alfredo, but I think it was because I just didn’t like the canned sauce.. I will definitely be using homemade sauce next time! Thanks for the recipes!!!

Howdy. Can you edit to make the correction on the ribs recipe regarding the ingredient being Old Bay seasoning instead of salt? I am afraid that when I go to make the recipe, I won’t remember the change. It would probably help others, as well. Thanks.

I have just printed a few of the recipes. They all sound delicious. I was wondering if any you have ever tried storing in the food saver freezer bags. I use that constantly and they can lay flat as well and keep out the frost. Please reply. Thanks:)

I just got home from work and the Maple Dijon Glazed Chicken is totally burnt, even after only 7.5 hours in the crockpot. Has anyone else had this problem? Is it supposed to be less than 8 hours on low?

All the other recipes I have made from this list have been easy and delicious, so thank you for sharing them!

I love this collection of recipes!!! I have done very similar groups of recipes, the “dump” style of freezer meals. My family loves the chicken alfredo and taco soup. Hoping to try soon the chicken cacciator, and add it into our rotation of meals.
Thanks for some super awesome recipes

Most of the freezer meal plans I’ve seen before required HOuRS of work to produce a couple weeks worth of meals. I LOVE how easy the prep looks for these. Thanks for sharing!

I could use some advice about crock pots. I started trying to use mine about 2 months ago, (before I discovered your website) and the first 3 things I made burned!! The first was done perfectly but too early, so I turned it to low, thinking it would keep it warm. When I returned about 20 minutes later it was boiling, (something it hadn’t been doing on High) overcooked, and burning on the edges. I eventually tested the crock pot with an oven thermometer. Low reached 280, and High heated to 315. Is this typical? I had expected low to be just under 200, and I thought there would be a much bigger difference between low and high. Do I need a new one? Any recommendations?

Your temperature readings sound about right. You may want to consult the manufacturer. Even with all of our recipes, each of our crock pots vary in cooking time. So just be sure to always check when it gets close to the end of the cooking time for your recipe. Thanks so much for stopping by our blog for recipes. We also have a new sister site MyRecipeMagic.com where you can find thousands of great recipes. Many are for slow cookers. -The Six Sisters

Hey! I included your chicken broccoli alfredo to the meals I prepped and froze before baby comes in about a month – and I included the recipe and a link to your blog on mine, http://rachelinraleigh.com. thank y’all so much!

We love the Cilantro-Lime Chicken with corn and black beans. I wanted to share a wonderful leftover recipe I made with it today. I had about 3 Cups of the shredded chicken mix and to that I added 3 Cups cooked rice, i can cream of mushroom soup, 3/4 cup sour cream, and about 1 cup of cheese mixed it all together and baked in a 9×13 pan on 350 until the cheese was melted. It was so good, quick and easy. Thank you for sharing all the great recipes!!

I’ve made all of these freezer crock pot meals and my family loved each and everyone! The Cilantro-Lime Chicken is our favorite! Thanks so much for the great recipes! They are perfect for our family of 7.

My hubby is out of town for work for the next few months and when he comes home for his next visit I would like to send him back with some of these. I have a question, though. He works 12 hour days so would be gone 13 hours. Will they be ok cooking on low for that long? I don’t want to set the hotel on fire

Wow! Keep these coming! I love that they have a small number of ingredients and most cook for like 8 hours. So many I find are only 3-4 and I can easily be at work 10 hours all day, so that doesn’t work. Thanks so much! Can’t wait to try them out!

I really appreciated this combination of recipes. It got me and my husband started with using the crockpot nearly every night. We both are gone 12+ hours a day for work so this has helped tremendously. I have adapted many of our current recipes to utilize this technique. We have been doing this for about 2 1/2 months now. Since there are only the two of us at home the batches last at least 2 days and a lunch or two. The great thing about it is that we do the assembly together and put about 8 of them together each time so that we only have to do it about every two to three weeks.

I have read for a while now about crock pot freezer meals but all that I ever find are recipes my family would not even touch and it seemed so expensive to do. FINALLY I found your site that has recipes my family will actually eat and they do not look that expensive at all to cook. Awesome! I am going grocery shopping later and going to give this a try. Need to find something to do for when I have my 3rd baby in December. I will have basically zero help so this will take care of at least one thing in my day and help out oh so much. Thankful I found this page! : )

Admittedly, I haven’t read all the comments above- so apologies if this is redundant, but has anyone ever priced this out? Just curious what the grocery list runs or if anyone’s ever broken that price down to a meal price?

I just want to say thank you for the compilation of these great recipes! I know somebody who has a young toddler and is halfway through her second pregnancy. I don’t know her very well– she’s actually the wife of my boyfriend’s work buddy– but I still want to help out in some way or gift her with something practical. I decided on freezer crock pot meals and most (if not all) of these recipes are now on the list. With a newborn and a toddler I know her hands are going to be full and it would give me a good feeling to ease even a little stress/work during those first very hectic months.

I made 6 of these meals with a friend on Saturday. It was our first time making freezer meals. All together we made 32 meals & 4 extra bags of just cooked chicken. It took us about 5 hours. I Pulled the first one from the freezer on Monday, chicken cacciatore. Served over white rice. My family liked it , but I thought it needed a little more seasoning. I’ll just adjust it when I dump my next one in the crockpot. Looking forward to the bbq ribs tonight
Hope our potatoes don’t turn black in the stew lol

So far I have made the BBQ Spareribs, French Dip Sandwiches and Chicken Alfredo. The Spareribs and Dip Sandwiches were to die for! I wasn’t a fan of the Chicken Alfredo though. I thought it was a bit bland…any suggestions? Right now we have the Maple Mustard Chicken in the crockpot and let me tell you, this house smells fabulous! Can’t wait to try it!

I am so excited that I found your site! Thanks to a cousin who is expecting I was inspired to do crock pot meal preps as well because my husband and I work hectic schedules and there was some wasted food & money in our house. I am looking forward to a stockpiled freezer, full bellies, and a hefty piggy, lol! We are starting off the chicken broccoli alfredo. AThank you for posting your recipes

I make several of these meals a couple of weeks ago. The chicken cacciatore was okay but it needed more seasoning, sorta bland. Added some salt, pepper & some Italian seasoning. We enjoyed the cilantro lime chicken, shredded & made burritos with Mexican rice & guacamole. The hearty beef stew was pretty much a disaster. It had a very weird look & texture. Usually when I prepare a roast with potatoes I add them later because they cook so much faster than the meat & carrots. I decided to follow the recipe instead….mistake. The potatoes turned out mushy & a few turned dark. Today I have the Italian chicken in the crockpot for supper. Gonna serve over rice with stemmed broccoli. We will see how it goes…..

About a year ago I tried five different freezer/crockpot recipes and they were all a disaster. They were so BLAND and all the veggies were mushy. The only one that was OK was something similar to the Taco Soup in this list. HOWEVER, this list has made me want to try again. I also think that I will thaw first, as suggested. The other recipes didn’t call for that and cooking then so long just turned it all to watery mush. Yuck. I will be pinning and reviewing these for sure! Thanks for posting this on FB again!

thank you for sharing. I appreciate that you have done all the prep & organization for us. I intend to take a weekend soon and do this. Everything looks & sounds scrumptious and easy to prepare!
Thanks again!

I grew up eating a “soup” called hamburger hash that was basically water, hamb., potatoes and seasonings. I thought it was the grossest thing when my mom would put it in the pot because she just crumbled up the raw meat right into the pot of water. It cooked fine but it is a bit grayish colored when cooked like this (boiled basically). The reason it was put in raw was to help flavor the soup as it cooked. Just commenting this because of an earlier comment about putting in the raw hamb. for taco soup. I also make taco soup; but I do cook the meat ahead of time, mostly because I like to season it up as I cook it. Happy cooking to all of you! These recipes all sound wonderful.

What if you forget to take it out the night before or did not plan to make a crock pot freezer meal and have to grab one out of the freezer that morning and run out?? How much more time should you add to the cooking time if frozen?

Some of these recipes will be fine in a 4 quart container. The bigger recipes will need a six quart slow cooker. Just kind of check out the ingredient amounts. 4 quarts is 16 cups, so make sure if the ingredients will equal more than that. You also don’t want it to be to the top of the crock pot.

I absolutely ADORE your website, and finding these freezer meals was an added surprise. I am anxious to try some of these very soon. I think I’ll go shopping after Thanksgiving, then spend my day off preparing meals for my next work week. I have 10 children between the ages of 4-18 so I will definitely have to triple this recipe, but I’m used to that! Thanks again for sharing this with us!

Are these recipes enough for a family of 5. Just curious. We decided to do them for a girl from church who just had a baby. We usually bring dinners over but I know that having so many people bother you after having a baby can sometimes be emotional.I thought of these recipes and now I want to try them for my own family.

So I went and did my shopping for these on Friday, did my prep today (Monday)! I can’t wait to try them all… My only complaint though… you missed the 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup on the shopping list! So I need to head back out and pick that up for the Stew.

I am filling my freezer before our baby arrives in April and I made these recipes this afternoon while my toddler was taking her nap. It took me $100 and an hour of grocery shopping this morning, but now I have my deep freezer filled to the brim! Thank you so much for sharing these recipes and the process for them.

This may already be answered in comments, but I figure I’ll ask here anyways.
First is a suggestion to add freezer Ziploc bags to the grocery list.
Don’t want to forget that!
Second is a question. I found that 2 chicken breasts met the 1 1/2 lbs requirement. Should I cut up in cubes or strips before freezing or after they’ve cooked in the crockpot before serving?
Great site (always love pictures)

At the bottom of the post in tips, I added to be sure to remember Ziploc bags. They are definitely important for these meals!!
With the chicken, don’t worry about cutting or cubing any of it. Put the chicken breasts in the bag whole and dump into the crock pot whole. After the meal is done cooking, the chicken should be so tender that it basically falls apart or shreds easily with two forks. I usually just serve the chicken breasts whole or cut in half (if I don’t shred them). Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for these lovely recipes! I am getting ready to have rotator cuff surgery and will be out of commision for a while. I thought these would be simple enough even my husband could handle the morning prep Your recipes look great, and I can’t wait to try them! Thanks for all of your hard work to share these with all of us

Super excited to try these. Making a double batch and giving a set to my daughters teacher who is a working mom. However, I can’t get the shopping list to print. I keep getting an error that says Goggle is aware of this error and will get to it when they can. Is there any way to email it to me? ju.organ@gmail.com Thanks in advance!

Thanks so much for these recipes. I am just getting ready to leave my daughter and new grandson after being with her for 3 weeks! Trying to stock up her freezer with good, easy meals and am ready to start bagging today. I will feel much better about leaving knowing she has things to eat when it is hard to get things prepared. Will use them when I get home, but post more!

Do you know that for the recipe & ingredients of the Chicken Broccoli Alfredo written out above in the site are different than the ones on the print list? I’m assuming what is written out above on the website are correct and not what comes printed out from the “print” section for the recipes.

Hi and Thank you…I am an avid canner and I am always looking for new things to can up, I will be looking into converting these into a larger amount that can be canned. I love my crock pot to, but I have found that when canned, it is a heat & eat deal and add the sides. I can most of my meats now as well as veggies..so this would be nice to pull a jar from my canning pantry and heat and eat..and great if unexpected company should pop in (my grands)..I am excited to try this out as most all items are capable of being canned. Thank you again :-). retired and loving it, canning & gardening

Hello,
So I divided the recipes into two meals since we only have two in our family. I’m wondering if anyone here (who might also be cooking for two) might know how long you should leave in the crockpot? I’m trying to have dinner ready for when my partner gets off work, so if anyone knows an estimate of how long, please… let me know.

Hello! I tried making the Maple Dijon Chicken today. I didn’t do it as a freezer meal but just threw it in the crock pot like suggested for 4 hours on high. It only took 3 before the chicken was overdone. Also that sauce came out clumpy and looked like it separated. Any tips? Do you use name brands or store brands?

Thank you for all of the great recipes.I made the ribs yesterday,everyone loved them.
I do have one question, I have noticed most sites say not to freeze potatoes, how do they come out after freezing, and can you use russets or Yukon Gold?

I have been thinking of doing some freezer meals but it’s just DH and Me..He is type 2 diabetic and I am overweight..looking at some of the ingredients in the recipes makes me think that these meals may be too high in calories, carbs and fat..I’ve looked at many websites for freezer idea recipes and yours comes out on top, as to our personal likes of food. How can I make them into small portions to fit into our personal meal plans?

What is the difference between a pork roast and pork tenerloin fillets? I know that a pork roast is one heavy solid piece of pork while the tenderloin usually come two fillets to a pkg. The pork roast would be good for pork and sauerkraut meals? I would assume cooking times would be a lot less for the tenderloin fillets. We love pork and sauerkraut occassionally.

You can find a lot of recipes on our new sister site MyRecipeMagic.com. Just click on “Search By Ingredient”. Then in the top column marked Keyword in Recipe you can type in low calorie, or sugar free or whatever you are looking for. Then click SEARCH. A lot of recipes will come up for you. It’s a great site for recipes. We have a lot of gluten free and low calorie recipes. Over 25,000 total. Hope this helps!

Hi Lindy! I am so sorry- that is so crazy! I have had a couple of people comment that they blanch their vegetables first, but in the many times that I have done these meals for family and friends, I have never experienced discoloration or yucky tasting vegetables. I don’t know if it has anything to do with the fact that the meals are usually eaten within a week or two of making them? I am so sorry that I am not much help. I hope you have a great night!

Thank you so much for compiling this post! The fact that it is free is also amazing! I have been looking for meal plans and freezer meal menu’s but everyone wants you to pay, and half the recipes my family wouldn’t eat:( Thank you! I like to make lion house rolls for my slow cooker sandwiches:)

love these recipes and just wanted to say, you mentioned halving the recipes if only cooking for 2. I live alone but make the full recipe and then refreeze in serving size portions for days when I just don’t want to cook.

About every two or three weeks I bake and cook for about four hours. I use plastic plates and vacuumed bags to keep everything fresh in the freezer. Last week I cooked 5 cube steaks, a pan of
3 hamburger patties, and pork chops. I cooked two baked potatoes and lasagna
and two swear potatoes. A large pot of rice. Broccoli. Brussels sprouts, Liam beans and also/ my favorites Mac salad. . .
Other weeks I have done big pot chicken and yellow rice,meat loaf,Salisbury steak,,shephers pie.rice, red pot and instant mashed potatoes, yellow squash and zucchini squash
It is so nice to have a healthy meal waiting after work and I just throw away the plate,
The mess was made when I weekend cooked but I just keep up with it while I cook.

I have never done freezer cooking, but want to give it a try this weekend. I have been researching, but haven’t been able to figure this out… Can you use frozen meat to prepare the meals? Or do you need to start with thawed meat? I already have a bunch of frozen chicken, stew meat, and pork chops. Can I just put the frozen uncooked meat in the bags and add the remaining ingredients?

I just wanted to let you know that we absolutely love all of your freezer meal recipes! They are so flavorful and delicious. Our absolute favorite and the one in the crockpot right now is the cilantro/lime corn chicken and it is made so often that pretty much all of our friends have the recipe as well. Thank you for this wonderful blog and these wonderful family friendly meals. We truly appreciate them here in our house.

I have tried most of the recipes. I especially LOVE the BBQ pork ribs. I have never really gotten into the mindset of freezer cooking so I just make these recipes same day in the Crock Pot for an easy dinner.

About 50/50 success with this one. Loved the beef stew, cilantro lime chicken, taco soup (a little sweet, better second day), and spare ribs. Cacciatore, french dip, and alfredo were underwhelming at best. On the fence about the maple-dijon combo. I think I’ll just have to find some more favorites and then develop my own list of 8 to throw together.

Just want yall to know that my hubby LOVES the French Dip recipe…I added some Worcestershire sauce and onions but…I have made it using this recipe at least 5 times now and always come back to your link! Thanks!

I love this site… A friend of mine in Texas hooked me into it a year or so ago and I have come back to it a few times, I live in Canada. In reading the comments to these wonderful crockpot meals, I have a few comments/replies/suggestions of my own. Firstly, I notice some of the readers say they use their crockpots from fall to spring, well I use mine all summer long. It is great to have the fresh produce that we get in the summer, but sometimes a hot meal is needed and living in an apt, with no a/c, the crockpot is my best friend. Secondly, I see the question of cooking times come up a lot, and I know I have read this in my instruction manual for my crock as well as on your site but it bears repeating…NO crock is exactly the same, so cooktimes will vary, especially if you are varying the recipe in any manner. Thirdly, I say have fun with cooking and the recipes. If you don’t like mushrooms, leave them out, if you don’t have green beans, but have yellow ones… use them. Maybe you live in a different country and can’t get the exact ingredient, substitute. See what happens. My husband is on a sodium reduced diet, and 9 times out of 10 I can adjust to his needs. I use less prepackaged items, so my prep time is a little longer, but I just crank up the tunes in the kitchen, and work away knowing I am helping him stay healthy.
Sorry, I tend to run on when it comes to cooking… thanks for the website, and all the great recipes and ideas… keep cooking!

Thanks for sharing these recipes! I made a number of them last week. Today we had the beef stew and really liked it. When I froze the ingredients, I left out the carrots and potatoes and threw them in fresh halfway through the cooking time. It was perfect. We also have had the cilantro lime chicken and enjoyed that. I just love having meals frozen and ready…as a working mom of 4, I love having dinner ready for my family with less time involved in preparation. I have one tiny piece of advice. Before you put them in the freezer, wipe any moisture from the outside of the bag. A few of my bags have frozen together.

Thank you so much for posting freezer recipes that have already been tested and approved by a family. I see so many recipes online that have a disclaimer that they’ve not yet been tried. I am new to freezer cooking but am excited about the idea of not having to prepare as many meals when I give birth in two months. I do have a question though… I didn’t see anywhere exactly how long these meals can live in my freezer before I cook them. I would like to prep these before I get to hugely pregnant, but not if prepping too early compromises quality. Anybody have any guesstimates, (assuming I start with fresh, never before frozen ingredients of course)? Thanks a million, a pregnant mama.

Is it okay with you if I borrow your picture that offers 8 slow cooker freezer meals in an hour for a review of these recipes I am writing on my site. (PattyCakesPantry.com) I am talking about seeing the image on your post and jumping at the chance to make the recipes. We really enjoyed most of them. A couple we would make a few changes to. Overall, we loved them.

This may have already been submitted and I apologize it it has however I’m concerned about the meat being mixed with all the other ingridients, is this safe. I already made a bunch of your recipes last night but someone made a comment to me saying this is NOT ok to do. Please advise. I see that you mix everything and I’m sure most people do but I’ve always been a bit food crazy so this was a huge step for me and now I’m kinda freaked!

Hi Angie! I have never had a a problem mixing together the meat with the other ingredients, as that is how I do it when I put anything in my crock pot (freezer meal or not). The meat and other ingredients are cooked at a high temperature for such a long period of time that it has never made us sick. I think that you can do what you feel comfortable with. It would be completely fine to place the meat in a separate bag, if that would make you feel more comfortable. It would take up a little extra space in your freezer and be a few extra freezer bags, but that’s it. I have probably made over 100 freezer meals and have not have any problems, but feel free to do what is best for you!

Hello! I’m coming a little late to the party but today I’m pretty proud of having 8 (well, actually 16 since I’m just cooking for 2) meals in my freezer! It took me quite a bit longer than 1 hour but then I also watched a favorite show and most of a movie on my computer while chopping and measuring. All of the 8 recipes sound good and I **especially appreciate** suggested sides for the meal. Oh, and the color photo of each, too!
I’m looking forward to tasting each and my husband is looking forward to hot meals without a grocery stop every day!
Thanks, girls. Your momma did a fine job raising the six of you!

this might sound like a silly question but i was telling my partner about these as he works away from home al week and i freeze the meals we have each night for him at work and he said do you put the bag in crockpot 2 and i thought ohhhh i dont know .

so do you take it out of bag to put it in crockpot or jsut put the whole lot in still in the bag

I was so excited to find your site and find your freezer recipes. I work long days, and have 3 kids who are involved in many things. We often get home late and I like to have something hot ready. Without freezer meals I have to get up early and prepare. This was going to be the second time I tried freezer meals, I did wild tree freezer and they were good but it was very expensive. These were reasonable and and quick. However we have been disappointed they have only been so-so. Some turned out watery, the chicken was mushy and the portions were small. What am I doing wrong?

Thank you for posting these recipes. I return to work after 12 weeks of maternity leave next week and now I have plenty of meals in the deep freezer for when I return to work. I have done 7 of the recipes (except for the ribs) x2 so I will have 14 meals ready which is really exciting and will hopefully cut down on some of the stress.

These sound wonderful! I was just talking to a patient of mine who was being observed in hospital for 48 hours… and suggested, that since she is going to be on bedrest for a bit and her baby is due in a couple of months, that it would be great to have some of her girlfriends over for a freezer meal prepping party… and they could visit and chop things and leave her with a bunch of meals in the freezer that her hubby could toss in the crockpot for her, making it possible for her to stay on bedrest and still eat well! I wish I had had these recipes to share at the time! I am looking forward to making these for my daughter and myself… I am thinking of buying a small crock pot and making half batches… because my daughter never manages to eat leftovers!
Thanks for sharing!

The recipes sound great, well except for the one for beef stew..in my experience raw potatoes do not freeze well at all! they turn mushy when cooked after being frozen. I would leave them out of the bag and just add fresh potatoes to the crock with the rest of the contents, or leave out all together and serve the stew with mashed potatoes (or even noodles or rice) on the side.

i was looking for an easy beef stew recipe and came across your blog on Pinterest. I am so excited to find these easy recipes that you put in the freezer and cook later in the crock pot. I don’t know how to cook, but think I can handle these recipes! Since my baby will be due in the next two months I plan to make these and freeze them to cook after she is born. For the Hearty Beef Stew, can I use baby carrots instead of cutting up big carrots? We caught lots of baby carrots, yellow onions and red potatoes at the St. Patrick’s Day parade so I want to use what I have. If yes to the baby carrots, how many should I put in? Also, will I mess up the stew if I don’t put peas (my husband doesn’t like peas)? He says I always mess up recipes because I don’t follow them exactly and always try to make substitutions! Thanks!

I just love yalls website! I was not born “gifted” in the kitchen but you guys make it so easy. I have used your recipes before but I am about to give this freezer meal cooking article a try. Wish me luck :).

Welcome to our site! There are six of us girls . . . no boys! Now that we have grown up and moved far apart from each other, we use this blog to stay in touch and share our ideas. Feel free to take a look around!